Sunday, June 9, 2013

I heard about Amanda Bynes recent
“issues” not through TMZ or Twitter, but via pro-football channels. Makes
sense, right?

The tongue-in-cheek NFL news site, ProFootballMock.com,
broke the “news” that Bynes had signed with the notoriously dysfunctional NFL
team, the Detroit Lions.

As I caught up on the Bynes shame spiral,
I started thinking about the equivalent bologna that goes on in the NFL and
other professional sports, too. The current terror Bynes is on made me think of
former Lions wide receiver, Titus Young. How similar is a self-destructing
young Hollywood star and a self-destructing young star athlete?

Amanda Bynes

•Bynes is currently facing charges in
New York for reckless endangerment, tampering with evidence, and possession of
marijuana from a May 23rd incident at her Manhattan apartment. She faced a laundry list
of charges in 2012: multiple DUIs, 2 counts of “driving with a suspended
license” 2 hit and run charges , and just recently, she was kicked out of her
gym for smoking pot in the women’s locker room at 4:20 pm (how original).

Titus Young

•You might have heard about it when
this former Detroit Lion was arrested not once, not twice but three times in
one week, with two of those arrests happening within 24 hours of each other.
First he gets a DUI, gets arrested and his car is impounded. Fourteen hours
later, he’s arrested again for trying to break into the police impound lot to
get his car. Later in the week: burglary and assault.

Here you have two young, uniquely
talented people who appear determined to self-destruct and ruin the chance of
them capitalizing on the skills and success they have built so far.

It may seem that the high-profile
careers chosen by Bynes and Young exist in an enabling breeding ground for all
sorts of dysfunction. And, in many ways, that’s probably true: the money, the
fame, the attention and adoration of fans. But, there is a difference that, I
believe, makes a difference.

If you look at Bynes, her career in
showbiz is hanging by a thread – pending a Mickey Rourke style comeback.
However, TMZ, People Magazine, US Weekly and Perez Hilton are making a pretty
nice living off of her name right now. It’s just like the way the British
tabloids cover the Royal Family to keep the presses rolling. But, the studios
and executives Bynes has worked with are in no real danger of tanking due to
her collapse.

A great example: Lindsay Lohan’s
biggest box office success before her collapse was Freaky Friday,
released by Disney, but no one now labels Disney as a dysfunctional, has-been
success in the production of films and television. So, even though Bynes
may lose work, her downfall feeds the beast of the industry that spit her out.

On the other hand, the Detroit Lions
– because of Young and others like him -
have become the “halfway house” of the NFL. The team is a punchline. Their value
as an organization has been diminished, which hurts their trade negotiations,
ticket sales, merchandise sales and credible media coverage. That’s why it’s in
an NFL team’s best interest, and even more so, in the league’s best interest,
to avoid problem players and look for ways to support those players on the
edge. Under the direction of NFL Commissioner, Roger Goddell, the league is now
about as strict as it has ever been when it comes to player conduct.

What would be Hollywood’s motivation
to support and protect young talent to gracefully succeed as they mature in
their careers? There is none. Every negotiation with these stars is based on
“What have you done for me lately? How hot are you now?” Any project already in
the works is completely malleable. They can change a plot line at the drop of a
hat - or an “elevator shaft”
– with the right lawyers to undue any contract language, and slick public
relations professionals to make the executives look squeaky clean.

At the end of the day in both
industries, you are still looking at the exploitation of young talent for the
financial gain of big people with big stakes in the game in the name of
“entertainment”.

Should I feel guilty for being an
actress, an entertainment writer and a rabid NFL fan? Maybe. But I don’t. Every
chosen profession or business comes with a price tag. It’s up to the person
performing or playing to decide if it’s worth it, and to navigate the life it
creates as a result.